The book first introduces the reader to the fundamentals of experimental design. Systems theory, response surface concepts, and basic statistics serve as a basis for the further development of matrix least squares and hypothesis testing. The effects of different experimental designs and different models on the variance-covariance matrix and on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) are extensively discussed. Applications and advanced topics (such as confidence bands, rotatability, and confounding) complete the text. Numerous worked examples are presented.

The clear and practical approach adopted by the authors makes the book applicable to a wide audience. It will appeal particularly to those with a practical need (scientists, engineers, managers, research workers) who have completed their formal education but who still need to know efficient ways of carrying out experiments. It will also be an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students following courses in chemometrics, data acquisition and treatment, and design of experiments.

Introduction. 1. Word Processors Devoted to Scientific Publishing (W.T. Wipke). 2. Databases and Spreadsheets (D.L. Massart, N. Vanden Driessche, A. Van Dessel). 3. Principal Component Analysis of Chemical Data (K. Varmuza, H. Lohninger). 4. Manipulation of Chemical Databases by Programming (J. Zupan). 5. Reduction of the Information Space for Data Collections (M. Razinger, M. Novic). 6. Prolog on PCs for Chemists (H. Moll, J.T. Clerc). 7. Reaction Pathways on a PC (E. Fontain, J. Bauer, I. Ugi). 8. Data Acquisition in Chemistry (H. Lohninger, K. Varmuza). 9. PCs and Networking (E. Ziegler). 10. The Future of Personal Computing in Chemistry (G.C. Levy). Index.